In Love and War
by Momosportif
Summary: Attempt at serious ShikaIno. The two are tested by the trials of battle and their barely containable desires for one another.And, contrary to popular belief, all may not be fair in love and war. Don't own Naruto, bow to K.M.Enjoy and review if inclined!
1. Mission

His downcast eyes followed her as she walked around his chair.

"I… I'd rather not." She paused, hands behind back. He stared motionless at the mission description in his loose grip. "I-I know you requested-"

"This mission's perfect for you." His slumped shoulders shook as the muscles tensed. The power in her quiet voice was equally as threatening as a tap from any of her one fingers. The silence moaned for a response. He vocalized none.

_I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't do this._

"I selected you two specifically due to your skills." She stared at him intensely, waiting for eye contact he refused to reciprocate. They both knew her words to be true; just as they knew no more than two lives could be risked and that sending a mission leader other than himself was practically homicide to whoever the supporting shinobi was. They needed his strategy. Her infiltration and healing skills. Their teamwork. And this logic made it pointless to argue with her. Stupid to say he couldn't do it. Selfish to say he wouldn't take the mission. Murder to say he would.

"Lady Tsunade," he kept his eyes focused down, not seeing the black on white he'd already read three times. "I… I can't. I…" he swallowed hard and shut his eyes, mentally running through the list of reasons he couldn't accept _this_ mission, couldn't lead _this_ support shinobi, couldn't be potentially responsible for the death of _this_ woman. "I accept. I'll tell-"

"She's already accepted." The hokage put a hand on his shoulder. "That's all I need from you, thanks. And good luck." The exchange was brief, but the prolonged touch to his shoulder told the unspoken message that she understood the emotional sacrifice he was making for the village. And that she was wholly sorry.

Nara Shikamaru rose from his seat across from the hokage's desk and walked to the door with the confident stride of any good shinobi, head up and face blank, in a manner that did not hint at the numb feeling throughout his body or the painful throbbing of his hyperactive heart or the tears burning their way up his throat. He'd always had trouble with this; leading friends into combat. But this situation, he had carefully avoided for the entirety of his time as a chunnin and jonin and for it to finally come with this mission seemed nearly unbearable.

_The bell rang with the swing of the glass door and she looked up from the potted flower she was transplanting, grinning and tucking loose yellow hair behind her ears with soil covered gloves. _

"_You again? What, newly discovered passion to be a botanist?" _

_He leaned across the counter to fiddle with order forms. "Eh…"_

"_You know what people are saying," blue eyes flicked up to him, "about us." He transferred his idle fingers to the task of arranging paper clips in abstract patterns. "I'm not even sure…" she turned her face up to him, asking if they were more, what they had become, what he wanted to be. _

_"Well, you know, Ino… I don't come here to look at flowers."_ …

He stopped his blind walk as he realized he was making the same bell ring with the opening glass door. He let the door fall back, glaring at the hand still pressed to the pane that separated him from comfort. He glimpsed the door of the back room opening as he reluctantly pried himself from the shop. Now was not the time for condolence or reassurance. They were shinobi now and whatever else was between them

_It was like a bruise, the spreading purple leaking into all corners of the sky. He felt her nose rub into his shoulder as she pressed herself against him to dull the growing cold of evening. _

"_That one looks like a bird," she pointed, face still half buried. He could feel her lips move as she spoke and squeezed the hand on his chest in his own. The bird cloud dissipated and was swallowed in the darkness. "They're so brief." She tilted her head up towards him. "One second they're there and one second… they…"_

"_They don't die, Ino." She was crying now and her hand slid to the pocket where he carried a pack of cigarettes. "They're always there, I've told you. They just need the right conditions to solidify from water vapor into droplets and back to water vapor. The right conditions."…_

whatever else was between them, they had to put on brave faces and ignore. The war had to be stopped and they had to do it, for everyone else, had to forget this part of them that was part of the other. But these were not the right conditions, he thought, him leading her into a fairly probable death, treating her as a shinobi. He ignored the falling droplets as his fingers crumpled the red 'S' on the paper and the characters spelling 'Yamanaka Ino'. Perhaps it _was_ brief, he realized, glancing up at menacing storm clouds, perhaps without the right conditions, they _would_ die.


	2. Strategy

Absolutely nothing was moving. Midday sun hung and perspiration trickled down the foreheads and calves of the two shinobi sitting in the softly lit room. One was staring at the low chestnut table, wrists facing upward and palms and fingers opposing each other, one leg folded in front of him and the other bent and upright, eyes intensely focused on the board before him. The other sat cross-legged, elbows propped on the table, lips partially parted, shoulders jutting up while her back curved limply, and eyes trained on the ones across from her. A hand moved towards the board, hesitated, and then the fingers met three tiles and slid them swiftly from one spot to three new ones surrounding a tile marked "king".

"The pawns. I got it, it's the pawns. Work our way directly into their lines. Let them think they're winning and take them out in one blow." He looked up at blue eyes now focused on the board. He forced his facial muscles not to smirk at the bit of tongue protruding from her frowning mouth. She moved two higher ranked pieces slowly in between the three pawns. He grinned, "Good, glad you saw that. Now if you'd let me finish earlier…" his fingers guided two pawns in adjacent corners straight to the king from the opposite side of the half circle. Her eyes widened. "Pawns work two ways." He held his breath as he watched her hand move aimlessly over the pieces. She then slid her two powerful pieces carefully, one to each group of pawns. Blue eyes scanned the board once more before she lifted her fingers and looked up. "That's right. Now you've got me." He grinned again, reveling in the success of his strategy as he saw her look of confusion and growing irritation. "Well, I mean, at this point you should think you've got me." He slid one pawn from the front forward and one of her higher pieces to the same square as one of the back pawns. "Pawns work two ways. There's _their_ pawns," he held up the higher ranked piece by the pawn, "and there's _our_ pawns," he held up the other higher ranked piece.

"The three in front," he tapped the tiles in front of the king, his first move," those are unwitting decoys, our pawns. If we need to, we can frame the soldiers, but it won't be rare for potential conspirators to be taken in and, oh, yeah, to initiate the whole thing, we've got to let them know we're there and shake up security. Another thing, I'm one of the front pawns and you're your own piece," he held up the higher piece beside a pawn tile, "until the end when you make a quick change to a pawn, to facilitate escape. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So the three front pawns… oh yeah, the two backs, so they're -" Ino let her mind stray from his idiosyncratic web of pawns and betrayal and confused military leaders. That was impressive, of course, his strategy was always mind blowing, but she found him, as a whole, more impressive than merely his mind. She had almost declined, sitting across from the Lady Hokage, reading and rereading the mission description.

_War in Iwagakure: Civilians planning to war with another clan of civilians. Offensive clan armed with shinobi. Offensive clan plans to use opposing men as animated corpses. Reason for attack: untraced murder of offensive clan's members. Murder traced by Konoha ANBU to rogue ninjas, recently found dead._

_No other known details._

_Objective: stop the war with as few casualties as possible before Lord of the Land of Stone returns from conference with Hokage in Konoha; 3 days._

_Rank: S_

_Shinobi requested: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino_

But she'd known he'd say yes. And she felt no better protection could be obtained than the protection of her own teammate and friend and- She stared across at him, watching him talk animatedly about his strategy, not hearing what he was saying, feeling more and more detached from the comfort of the habitual attack planning developed through a shogi game as the knowledge that this could be the last time weighed down on her. The last mission. And she had terrible issues with last missions, a truth enforced by the fact that she was testing Shikamaru's strategy, not her sensei. Not Asuma.

"Shikamaru?"

"Hmm?" He looked up and she was somewhat relieved to see a trace of her own unease reflected in his gaze. "…Yeah," he offered a sad half smile with this response, this confirmation. Yeah, we might die on this mission, was what he really said, was able to communicate to her with just one word. And just saying it, telling her he knew that they might need to say a serious good bye to Choji and their parents and their friends, might need to visit the memorial stone for one last time, was so soothing. They would go together.

"I- uh- these guys," Ino glanced down and gestured towards the two back pawns. "What's their deal again?"

"Oh, yeah, so those guys are ours, in fact, one of them is your switch off pawn and…"

* * *

Rose shafts glinted off of the glassy surface of the shogi tiles, neatly stacked on the edge of the table. "One more time," Ino paused in the motion of hoisting herself into a standing position, "just for good measure," Shikamaru added as she sulked back into her seat across the table from him. 

"K. Mug two watches for uniforms. Attack the leader's tent. Let soldiers get a look at our faces. You snoop for behavioral tips while I overtake one of the higher-ranking guards. Transform into him and get three suspects pulled in, one of them being you. Get in two more suspects who turn themselves in due to our 'encouragement.' Propose execution of traitors. You admit to murdering the casualties that sparked the war, other suspects are released. We switch you with an animated corpse, you take my spot, I take a former suspect's. Corpse is murdered, we stay around to ensure the conflict is wholly resolved," Shikamaru's eyes flicked up as she faltered and his gaze hardened. She looked away and continued, reluctantly, "and if they don't give us time to replace you, we execute the executioners if it's isolated and if it's public…" she knew she had to let go of attachments right then, before the mission, "… if it's public we'll just let it play out."

"Excellent, okay," Shikamaru yawned, "time to pack up and get a good night's sleep." He scooped up the shogi set and headed out the door. Ino straightened and gazed out the window, asking the next question with as much indifference as she could muster.

"Couldn't it be me?" Shikamaru froze in the doorway. All his resolution was jerked out of under him and he was loosing balance. How could he protect someone with his life who was willing to do the same for him?

"Uh… no, Ino. That'll mess up my strategy."

"K."

"See you tomorrow then." He slid the door shut and trotted down the steps of her apartment. The strategy had to be maintained. It was all they had.


	3. Day 1

Day 1

Over the course of eight years, he had fine-tuned a way of getting out of bed as early as necessary to meet mission deadlines. He set his alarm an hour earlier than it needed to be so he would wake up, realize he had an hour until he had to really wake up, and reset the alarm for the proper time before settling into a semi-sleep in which he could gradually come to consciousness without feeling awake. It was a mind game on himself, inspired by a technique he'd observed in Ibiki's tactics. He was a master of mind games. So day one of the mission saw Shikamaru up before the sun, traipsing through dewy grass on the way from the ebony memorial stone to his parents house illuminated by a faint glow in the east, and waiting by Konoha's north gate, waving at a departing Choji as the sun achieved a half appearance in the sky. Ino came running down the main street and he watched as she collided Choji, launching herself at their third teammate. She came up to his shoulder, just barely, so he picked her up to hug her as tight as possible. Their laughter trailed up to him as Choji sat Ino down to look at her once more before squeezing her up again.

"You better come back, Shikamaru! Ino!" Choji bellowed after them as Ino reached the gate, causing several people opposed to early morning awakenings to open their windows and complain to the oblivious Akimichi.

"Hn."

"Yeah! We'll see you soon Choji!" Ino shouted back, causing just closed windows to be flung open again. She turned to Shikamaru as they took the first step toward an uncertain destiny, smiling. Her look softened as she noticed him rubbing his eyes.

"Good byes are troublesome," he explained, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"And hellos are a drag," she completed his familiar phrase before taking to the trees.

* * *

As they approached the village hidden in the rocks, the trees became too frail to support even a shinobi's light treads, so the two were forced to move slowly, concealed by the sea of boulders that replaced the once seemingly endless forest. The sun was now in its full glory above them. They ate dried fruit as they moved to sustain themselves. They hadn't spoken for five hours since leaving Konoha, but now, 

"We're close," Ino whispered. Shikamaru paused behind the same stone as his companion and leaned back against the smooth rock, closing his eyes and trying to feel his way throughout his surroundings, searching for another pulse, another chakra, another…

"Damn!" he hissed. "We got this close without even tracing-" Ino slipped a hand up to stifle his words. She mouthed,

"The rock behind us. Five. Two shinobi to our left and right. Three civilians. I've got these three." Shikamaru nodded and then blinked, utterly bemused as Ino slipped off her sandals and unsnapped the first two buttons of her already revealing shirt. She positioned herself carefully and then slipped a smokeless firecracker out of her weapon pouch as she removed it.

"Ino…" she tumbled forward, landing awkwardly on her right leg, a loud crack echoing through the small canyons between the boulders as the civilian guards whipped around at the sudden appearance of a stranger in their midst.

_What is she doing???_

"Oh god!" Ino screamed as if her arm was being severed, wincing and baring her teeth and then, "Oh god!!" as she turned and frantically cast her eyes from bemused face to bemused face of the civilian patrolmen. "Don't hurt me!" she pleaded, dragging herself away from the confused men leaving a stain of red on the rocks from a cut on her right leg, which she kept twisted beneath her. "_Please_ don't hurt me, I just wanted to-to-" she buried her face in her hands and commenced with a torrent of fake tears, "-to see my husband," she wailed the last phrase, balling her fists and pressing her arms to herself, the image of a damsel in distress.

Seduction. How could he not have guessed? Shikamaru rolled his eyes and moved backwards slowly. What a poor choice of arrangement. The two shinobi were clear in his sights, one on either side, exposing themselves to an attack as they peered around their rocks in order to keep watch on the distraught Ino, tearfully explaining the tale of her young husband bravely fighting in the war and how their home and his camp site were separated by the enemy camp but she was so desperate to see him that she had stumbled into the hands of these gentlemanly guards.

_Seems to be enjoying herself_.

Shikamaru shook his head and sidled up behind the rock target number one was in front of.

"Kagemane no Jutsu," he breathed, marveling at the ease of his technique in the rock-riddled landscape that provided so many shadows. When the capture was complete, he bowed his head sharply, the other shinobi doing the same, but with a boulder to curtail the motion with a thud drowned out by Ino's wails. Shikamaru slid forward and caught the man, laying him gently on the pebbles below them. He removed the man's concealing head gear and took his spot observing the dramatic scene Ino had fabricated.

"Well, miss," a portly man armed with a sword had taken control of the situation and was standing above Ino, arms crossed. "Seeing as you are an affiliate of the enemy, it's our duty to bring you in-"

"Oh, please, no! My darling husband! Please no!"

"- but, taking into consideration you're a harmless young lady, and injured at that," the other soldiers nodded, "we've decided to let you off this time." Ino brought one hand to her mouth and the other to her heart, taking a trembling breath that shook her heaving bosom.

"Oh, thank you," she gasped, ignoring the wandering eye of the men before her. "I owe you so much!"

"Well now," the portly man said as Shikamaru caught the attention of the other shinobi and beckoned him over with a flick of his hand, "don't think of it. We're happy to help."

"No, I insist," Ino said eagerly, placing her arms on the stone before her, one sleeve slipping off her pale sloped shoulder as target two reached Shikamaru. He was forced to put his trust in Ino to protect herself from the harassment she was setting herself up for as he turned to face the shinobi who was realizing his real partner was unconscious and drawing senbon to attack. Shikamaru wouldn't give him the chance.

A swift tap with the hilt of a kunai and target two was out. Shikamaru looked up from easing the incapacitated shinobi by his comrade as he heard,

"No! I really don't think I can stand!"

"Well, why don't you just lay down then?" Ino gave an exaggerated mortified look to the advancing men, purposefully backing herself into a dead end. "Nowhere to run lovely," one heckled as he extended an arm towards her.

"Keep your hands off!" Ino shrieked, striking back weakly, allowing her arm to get caught. There was something odd about her hit, Shikamaru noted. For one, her hand was oddly humped, thumb tucked beneath and palm carefully facing downwards but with all the other fingers splayed and for another, she struck with her left hand, but she was right handed. The portly man who had grasped her wrist frowned down at her hand.

"Where's your wedding ring, ma'am?"

"My what?"

"Your wedding ring. You said you were married…"

"Oh, you mean this?" Ino slid a kunai from beneath her hand and slipped the end over her ring finger. She smiled up at them as their faces changed from befuddlement to fear and then her fist collided with the side of the nearest man's head. Ino leaned sideways slightly and he tumbled into the rock behind her. One down. The other two raised one arm to block the steel enforced fist and began to draw their weapons with the other. Ino swept her leg around and against their ankles and their knees obliged, bending and leaving the men sprawled on their backs. The lucky one's skull collided with a rock and the last one was left alone with Ino leaning down and grinning maniacally at him.

"Looks can be deceiving, " she whispered, fully sliding his own sword from its sheath and holding the blade to his throat. The man whimpered and she raised the sword and brought it down. Hilt first. On his head. Three down. Shikamaru applauded sarcastically.

"Let's see," he looked skyward, feigning concentration and counting on his fingers, "time efficient, effectively imposing, strategic, nice touch backing up to the rock with your weapons behind it, very nice, maintained personal identity as a secret, and hmm… let's see, oh yeah, the key to successful espionage like we're about to attempt; subtlety. They would never know you were coming, really well concealed tactics." Ino rolled her eyes, tracing two fingers along the bleeding cut that mended seamlessly.

"I can be subtle when I _need_ to. This was my last shot at completely obvious attacks," she hesitated in the process of gathering her weapons pouch as she realized what she'd just insinuated, "for a while I mean. Until after this mission."

"Speaking of which," Shikamaru disappeared for a moment, then returned laden with the uniforms of the unconscious shinobi, "we can get started now." He looked up at the sun drifting towards the western horizon. "We'll attack with nightfall."

* * *

"So you're saying this woman attacked you?" 

"Well yes, but not at first, see we thought she was-"

"You're saying you _let_ this woman attack you?"

"No, sir, we defended ourselves, but--"

"So she is dead."

"… No, sir, she-"

"They were found unconscious, Riku samma."

"The shinobi too?"

"Yes sir."

"And one woman did all this?"

"No sir. There are at least two threats. A man took out the shinobi."

"By himself?"

"From their accounts, yes."

"Hmm…" Riku, leader of Iwa's Sheru clan, studied the sketches of the enemy shinobi that had been drawn based off of the patrol's descriptions. A young man and a young woman, early twenties, no village affiliation had been visible. "And you say they plan to infiltrate the camp?"

"Yes, they absconded with the shinobi's uniforms." A servant entered and began handing tea to the patrol members and then the right hand men of Riku who sat directly beside him.

"So we should keep a close eye on our shinobi from now on until-"

"Not necessarily."

Riku looked up to see who had dared interrupt him. The servant sat the tray down. She looked up at him.

"Looks can be deceiving." As the patrol men gasped and drew their weapons, the higher ranked guards lunged for Riku. The clan leader looked down to find a blade at his throat and then glanced sideways. The man depicted in the sketch on his desk was there, sneering at the guards.

"I dare you," he challenged them. Tension pounded with everyone's stampeding hearts as silence stretched. Then a drum sounded. The patrol shinobi were sounding the alarm. The two enemies looked at each other than ran out the back of the canvas tent as soldiers thundered towards the tent, creating an impenetrable escape cover for the two infiltrators.

"No! That way!" Riku was on his feet, sword in hand, futilely directing the mass of assembled soldiers. "Damn!" he muttered as the confused men swarmed in all directions. "Damn."

* * *

There were no lanterns in the kitchen tent so the cloth partitions where dishes were piled were in complete darkness. 

"I checked the roster when we got back, you don't have much to worry about. No relatives, no reputation, new recruit. You sit at the head table, third seat on the left side, prime spot." Shikamaru rattled off soldier etiquette as Ino slipped out of the servant clothes and into the uniform of a high ranked official. The identification card read Inetsu Yoku. Yoku was currently out cold and floating down the river that ran through the camp. The river had been a lucky break.

Shikamaru dropped his voice as the plodding of soldier's boots came too close for comfort by the vacant kitchen. "Here's drug pills for the last two suspects and… I think that's it, Ino." They looked at each other as best they could in the absolute dark as the din of soldiers in search of them boomed all around. Shikamaru made a little movement, paused, and then cupped Ino's face in one hand and brought her into a fierce kiss. Her breath caught and she stood entirely still, a shiver flooding her internally. "Just in case," he whispered with an exhale before releasing her and joining the frantic soldiers. Ino stood, breathless.

"Just in case," she murmured, touching her cheek where his hand had been. So he expected the worst. Or did he mean in case she needed luck? He was a master of mind games. Just in case. They could be the last words he'd said to her.


	4. Day 2

Day 2

In eight years, Ino had not been able to get her bathroom schedule down to under thirty minutes. An hour was pushing it. Thirty minutes was basically unheard of. So she had gotten up to use the baths an hour before regulation wake up. On her way to the baths, she'd noticed many flaws in the camp set up, and not just trivialities like the angle of the leader's tent door to the most exposed region of the log battlements, but things like a labeled weapons tent and kitchens with flammable tent fabric. These people were not warriors.

She stood up and plopped down on the ceramic edge of the portable bath, idly regarding the scars on her legs. These people were rash and proud. And centered on revenge. It would be easy for someone to get hurt.

"Oh, crap." She whipped her head around and then grabbed a towel, hastily drying herself and slipping into her uniform. "Transform," she whispered, as the silhouette of a fellow soldier became a man in the doorway.

"Oh, Yoku-san." The man gave a little bow. "You're up early, officer."

Ino groped around her memories for an appropriately awe-inspiring proverb.

"Yes, the weighted mind cannot fly freely into dreams." She gave him a serene look and tried to suppress a flustered pink tinge from invading Yoku's features.

"You're-" the man blinked in confusion, "ah," he gave another little bow. "You are referring to the spies who attacked Lord Riku last night."

Ino nodded, quickly debating whether or not to make an airy exit before the man remembered his bath or to grasp this exceptional opportunity to ensnare a pawn. She fingered the drugs in her pocket, capsules from the Akimichi stores capable of rendering a being mindless for up to two days, basically mind control. Anything you told the person in their "absence" would be done and then conveniently forgotten when the pills wore off. They were only for emergencies, she reminded herself, only if the subject wasn't trustworthy. As the gap between dialogue extended to awkward, she decided to give this man a chance.

"Baku-san," the man looked up, a faint smile on his face, clearly pleasantly surprised that his name (she'd read it on his uniform) had been remembered, "there is great concern for Lord Riku begotten of the attack last night. We are almost positive that the enemy is among us and to this end…" Ino made a show of scanning the surroundings, noting with dismay that many other tents were flapping open and the mass of early morning wakers was swiftly accumulating. She leaned forward confidentially, feeling a wave of guilt at the excitement on the man's face, and whispered, "I'd like you to report on anything suspicious. No snooping necessary, just report back if there's anything obvious. Can you do that for us?" Baku radiated elation, poorly suppressing a beam and bowing enthusiastically.

"Y-yes, Yoku-samma! Of course!" Ino rose, raising a hand as a sign of acknowledgment, and mustering an imperious look to cast on the bright eyed young soldier.

"At dinner then," she stated, slipping out of the bath tent. She exhaled, drooping slightly in relief before guilt consumed what little satisfaction she had had in her victory. She hated this mission, she realized, as she self-consciously straightened her posture, because not only was she ensnaring innocent men in this mess but she was forced to condemn Shikamaru.

A man laughed with his comrade over a game of Shogi in a nearby tent.

"Aha ha! Got me again," the soldier grinned, sliding a pawn tile off the board, his opponent returning the smile as he pushed his higher ranked piece into the now empty space. The play was familiar. Yamanaka Ino's heart was breaking. Inetsu Yoku didn't break stride.

* * *

The first lunch had just come to an end and the brilliant light overhead dripped into intense heat as it reached the rolling, endless stretch of glistening rocks.

"Officer," Ino's eyes darted sideways to see who had come to take her shift guarding Lord Riku's vacant tent. The man beside her earned her full attention immediately and she shifted her head in his direction and bowed. She did not need to see his embroidered robe or the carved hilt of a foreboding blade tucked into a silk sash to tell this man was one or more ranks above Yoku. She did not need to see the scar extending from his cheekbone to his clavicle to know she had misjudged the battle experience of some of the soldiers. This man was a warrior. A shinobi. She could sense the power of his chakra and prayed he could not sense hers. Flinty gray eyes aloofly regarded a spot above her head and his permanent frown barely broke as he informed,

"You shall remain here for the duration of second and third lunch, Inetsu. Complications have arisen and the services of your replacements will be needed until further notice. Is that clear, Inetsu?"

Ino mentally rushed through soldier protocol for a proper response before bowing again and saying, "Understood," she kicked herself for not taking note earlier and glanced up to read his name plate, "Toraho-samma." He was gone before she'd finished, leaving a wake of scattering soldiers and awed whispers between the rows of tents.

"Baka," Ino hissed as she returned to her forward facing stance. A shinobi he may be, but he was clearly a poor one. Few shinobi lived long who openly flaunted their specialty. And a chakra-enhanced sword was not exactly inconspicuous. If need be, she could use this vital information against him. And, her stomach reminded her, she had second _and_ third lunch to plan ways to exploit his technique.

* * *

Further notice did not come until early evening when Ino realized that a hush had fallen with the sun, She quickly identified the source coming straight at her. Two rows lead by none other than Lord Riku himself were striding down the central path towards the tent she'd been guarding for hours. The men were a grim stretch of subtly different serious faces, dark robes, and middle-aged elegance that descended on the younger recruits and sent them stumbling into attention and dropping a shower of bows, giving Ino an odd impression of Iruka-sensei appearing behind you while you were talking during a test or your mother catching you on the phone after she'd threatened you with death if you didn't clean your room. The elders had arrived. The generals now that their people were at war.

Ino stood at attention as Lord Riku reached his tent and the steady clomp of boots came to a halt. He turned his head to face Ino and raised his eyebrows, smiling slightly in an exhausted way as he asked,

"Still on duty, Inetsu?"

"Ah-" Ino quickly wiped her expression of confusion from her countenance and returned her head to its slightly bowed position,

"Inetsu offered to stay on during his lunch for extra security on your private quarters, Lord Riku," a familiar low and droning voice uttered and Ino rose her head a fraction of an inch to see the hard eyes of Toraho boring holes into her own. She flinched inwardly at the power there and… the grief? Their gaze broke and he snapped his head forward, straight gray hair flicking his scarred jaw before falling into place framing his face.

"Ah, hard worker, eh?" Lord Riku scratched the back of his head, grinning wearily, before letting his face fall and staring vaguely at the ground. "We could have used you on the field today. Hard times have come, Officer Inetsu." Ino's eyes widened and her heartbeat quickened.

_Come on. What happened? Just tell me, come on…_

Riku gave her a troubled look and said, "Yes, hard times…"

_Lord Hokage, spit it out already!! Was it Shikamaru?_

"We're having a meeting," Lord Riku opened the flap of his tent and entered, "after dinner."

_After dinner?_ Ino groaned inwardly, lingering a few seconds before following the other general's example and returning to her tent to wait out the ten minutes left before dinner was served. She unconsciously held her stomach as the thought of dinner manifested itself. But she wasn't sure she could digest the possibility of Shikamaru's capture and food. She'd do anything if she could only see him again, even briefly.

* * *

Dinner was a rowdy occasion, including being jostled through a service line, jostled in the opposite direction of her table, jostled to her table, and then jostled to the correct side of her table. Elbow room was hard to come by but Ino was famished and determined to get nutrition into her waiting stomach. The men around her talked to those beside them and Ino was content to be left in her own contemplation.

"Yoku-san!"

_Day 2 is almost over…_

"Hup! Excuse me. Yoku-san!"

_Tomorrow could be his last day alive…_

"YOKU-SAN!"

_So much could still go wrong today. What if Toraho knows I'm a shinobi? I could be underestimating hi-_

A whack to the shoulder jolted Ino out of her reverie.

"What?"

"I said, 'Yoku-san'!" She turned to see a young man, short black tufted in odd places and clothes slightly askew, clearly from moving against the masses in the dining tent.

"Who… Baku-san! Ah-I-hello again!" Ino had forgotten the eager soldier, but was thrilled to see him. "Do you have news?" His smile widened and he nodded.

"I heard two men! They said.

'Password?'

'Iwagakure.'

'Identification?'

'Here are my-'"

"Could you skip a bit, to the part with evidence against them, please?" Baku paused, slightly embarrassed, before picking up again enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes of course! They said.

'To strike tonight would be foolish.'

'We must attack before he attacks the Hasu clan!'

'We need a better plan, more materials!'

'The sooner he dies, the sooner this war is over!'

'I still say-'"

"Baku, where were they talking?"

"_Are_ talking."

"What?"

"They're still arguing, they were when I left, I-"

"Where?" Ino was on her feet.

"Behind the bath tents, I-" Ino grabbed her dishes and hurried to the stack of used plates, Baku trailing behind.

"Thanks, Baku," she distractedly shook his hand as she ran from the dining tent, leaving Baku slightly perplexed.

She slowed once she was a good distance from the majority of the soldiers, all near the tents she'd just exited.

_Bath tents… I was there this morning, bath tents…_ She debated on direction before stealing off through the dim rows of canvas in the direction of the baths. Sure enough, she could still hear voices.

"We'll never make it out of there alive, we'll be wanted men!"

"It's now or never! And I told you, we'll be disguised! They won't-" The drums signifying the first dinner's end cut the man short. "We'll talk later, " one whispered and they appeared around the corner of the tent.

They froze. Ino stared at them. They stared at her. They turned and began to run.

"Not so fast," Ino lunged forward, clutching the backs of their uniforms, just barely. She swallowed her unease as they shared terrified looks and said calmly, "Please come quietly and I'll put in a good word for you. If you struggle, I won't hesitate to incapacitate you." They nodded, trembling, and she lead them to Riku's quarters, skirting the rows of slowly filling tents.

The meeting was already in progress when Ino walked in, leading the two conspirators.

"Which brings us to-" the general opening the discussion stopped mid-sentence. Ino bowed slightly and the soldiers in her grip did the same.

"Pardon my interruption and tardiness, Lord Riku-samma. I have here two felons I caught discussing," Ino fought her nerves and morals, "escaping camp and abandoning the army." The assembled general stared and she swallowed.

"Perhaps they harbor some guilt that would persuade them to do so?" She bit her tongue as she saw Toraho rise and walk towards the men, leaning in menacingly. "Perhaps they have plans to tell the enemy something? Or, perhaps they have wronged those they have allegiance to? Perhaps they… are murderers?" He hissed the last word and the two men shook visibly. Toraho turned and returned to his seat. "If so, they fit right in."

Lord Riku nodded. "Bring the others in," he whispered to a guard who nodded and exited promptly. "Officer Inetsu, the news we have to discuss," the tent flap opened, "pertains to your discovery, ironically, because we too," the guard backed in, gripping a chain with six leads, "have found felons," three shackled men entered the room.

She had felt she'd do anything to see Shikamaru again. She had not specified in what condition. There was a bruise above his right eye and dried blood in a dark trail from the bruise to his eyebrow. There were cuts in his uniform and red welts were visible through the tears. He had clearly not opted to come quietly. Their eyes met for half a second and she almost screamed his name and blew everything. But they both turned away from the pain evident in the other's gaze.

_Just in case_.

She clenched her fist and forced Yoku to look aghast at his leader.

"Treachery?" Lord Riku nodded solemnly. "Disgusting," Ino said bitterly. Shikamaru's wrist twitched in it's chain.

_This is disgusting._

Yoku stared back up at Riku as he began to talk again. "But these men have committed a greater crime it seems. They have alluded to having started the war, which can only mean one thing." Riku glanced sympathetically at Toraho who was clamping his jaw shut tight. "They have killed men of their own clan."

"Hehhehhehheh…" all eyes flicked to the source of the cynical laughter. Shikamaru's eyes were shut, face towards the ground. "Don't try to include those fools, those cowards." He tilted his head in the direction of the men chained to him who, like Ino's prisoners were petrified. "I'm your man if you want justice. All the glory's mine. I killed those idiots. Owed them a bit of money and they wouldn't give me a break, so I killed the bastards."

Toraho's eyes hardened and his body quivered with suppressed rage. Shikamaru smiled maniacally, looking up at Toraho.

"That's right, I killer your men. I killer your s-"

"Silence." Riku's voice snapped into the muffled tent. "This man has just admitted his crimes outright. Now is the time for punishment to be decided." Riku looked at the faces surrounding him. An elderly man spoke up.

"Toraho has the right to decide." The other men nodded in agreement. "After all," Toraho's mouth bent into a cruel smirk and he balled his hands on the table into fists, eyes shut tight, "they were your sons."

_This is bad. This is bad._

Ino stared at Toraho, the man still shaking with emotion. Now she understood his grief. This would go beyond a penalty. This was revenge.

"I decree," Ino's grip went slack on her hostages as she fixed her eyes on Shikamaru's back, "that this man's punishment shall be," she'd been right about another thing, "public execution at dawn tomorrow," someone was going to get hurt.

* * *

This is the coolest coincidence either and I'd like to give myself credit for planning it but I didn't... I finished writing this three hours ago, before midnight on Shikamaru's birthday and I'm putting it up today on Ino's birthday! Happy belated Shika day and Ino day!! 


	5. Day 3

Day 3

Shikamaru fought, not for the first time on this mission, to suppress a wave of fear and panic.

_Okay, it's okay; this was part of the plan. There's still time to replace me. He gave us until dawn._

"Ahahahahahaha!" Shikamaru let his frantic feelings out in another gale of maniacal laughter, attracting the eyes of all the generals and his fellow prisoners who attempted to distance themselves from him as best they could. The laughter faded and Shikamaru glared up at the man he knew to be Toraho. "Public execution, huh? Going to make me an 'example', or scare your soldiers so badly they-"

"He shall be executed in front of this tent, the center of our cam-"

"This'll boost their morale. 'Hey, that could be me next. Maybe I'll die at the hands of my own leader'-"

"of our_**camp**_ and until that time, he is to be kept in isolation, heavily guarded by our top shinobi office-"

"Ah! Even better! So while we're worrying over my execution and the enemy attacks-"

"and the means of execution will be a mortal wound to the heart!" The last sentence brought a silence made eerie by the previous crescendoing shouts. "He will be stabbed once."

"And bleed to death," Shikamaru whispered, voicing the foremost of the implications Toraho's decree had brought to mind, his face creased in concentration, defiant expression abandoned at no loss as his audience was also conferring, many faces reflecting his own look of unease.

"A harsh punishment-"

"He _did_ murder his own people-"

"To die so slowly-"

"And he's right about the soldiers, they may not be prepared to see-"

"A just punishment for a man of his repute-"

Shikamaru glanced at the ground, shutting his eyes and letting his hands slip into his thinking position, fingers and thumbs touching, palms facing one another, wrists towards the tent ceiling, easily becoming deaf to the stream of discussion circling the table.

_Guards. Lots of guards so Ino can't bring help in. I have to bring help out. As few casualties as possible… This isn't looking good…_

He sighed in acceptance, quickly checking to see that none of the generals had returned their attention to him and breaking his concentration stance. He started briefly upon finding one officer not immersed in conversation, staring straight at him. He then found his eyes riveted to the officer's, tension in his muscles relaxing as he slipped into temporary refuge in that gaze before he had to look away. There were too many promises there he couldn't keep, too many he had to break.

_Ino…_ he turned back to face the generals as Lord Riku closed discussion, saying,

"His punishment has been given and it is now passed. Tomorrow at dawn, this man _will_ die."

_…I'm sorry._

Shikamaru forced defiance back into his features: shoulders set, cynical expression, slowly spreading sneer.

"Sounds nice in words, doesn't it? But you're going to have to do more than kill me to forget what I've done. I took more than my blood's worth." General Toraho released his pent up fury in a resounding slap to Shikamaru's face. They stilled; one trembling in outrage, the other kneeling, motionless, regarding the ground again. Lord Riku looked frustrated and sighed quietly. Shikamaru understood why, it was a complex situation he had forced Riku into, a murderer inciting the man he'd wronged but a prisoner as well, being attacked by an officer.

"General Toraho, please try to restrain yourself as best you can. Save your hatred for the execution tomorr-"

"Riku-samma!" A quavering voice cut the district leader short. Shikamaru followed the voice, confused to find Ino, looking just as startled as everyone else that she had spoken. She recovered instantly and continued, "This man resolves everything."

Several generals raised their eyebrows at one another, clearly disapproving of the daring of such a minor official, but Ino's eyes did not shift from Riku's.

"We started the war because we thought the Hasu clan was responsible for killing General Toraho's sons," comprehension began to flicker on some of the official's faces, "but this," Ino stumbled for the first time, seeming to choke the next word, "man admitted to the murder. He's our solution." Her voice was getting softer, losing confidence, and each phrase ended with a swallow. "He's our enemy, the Hasu clan is innocent. There's…" Shikamaru struggled to keep an impassive face as the urge to beg her not to cry threatened to overpower him, "there's no reason to… kill needlessly." She was looking wretchedly at her boots, grief coming off as embarrassment, her speech having come to an end. The officials sat gawking as if they'd been doused with hypothermia-inducing water.

_Not the response I'd want from my chief commanders if I was a soldier._

They clearly had not been thinking about the war at all, focusing completely on internal threats and his demise.

"Uh, good point," Riku said awkwardly. "That's… very true." He cast a quizzical look on Shikamaru who raised an eyebrow mockingly, reassuming his role as rebel.

"One… plus one… equals two!" Shikamaru intoned, moving his fingers together as if instructing a child.

"Your insolence will not be tolerated," Toraho forced between gritted teeth, whirling to face Shikamaru in his seat on the tent floor. He stuck his tongue out at Toraho in response, which earned him a lunge from the general and the amusing stumbles of two guards over the chains connecting the prisoners as they attempted to restrain the irate man.

"That's quite enough!" Lord Riku stood and came to put a hand on Toraho's shoulder and, Shikamaru hoped, send the prisoners out of the tent and away from the gaze of military personnel where he had to mask his growing fear. Riku first addressed the guards. "Take this man to the empty barrack and release the others. We're sorry to have unjustly accused you, my friends," he added to the two men being liberated beside Shikamaru and to the men Ino had brought in, bowing slightly. He turned to a general seated behind him. "Send an envoy to Lord Koshi of the Hasu Clan with a message that this war is over and our sincere apologies in mistakenly threatening them." The man nodded and rose from his cushion around the low table.

Shikamaru felt a brief surge of pride as he watched Riku play right into his hand, the steps of his plan sliding neatly into place. His strategy was perfect. _Right down to my execution. Flawless._

A knee to his spine encouraged him to stand, finding himself eye to eye with Riku and Toraho. He smirked at the general, evoking the desired growl of fury. Lord Riku shook his head in disgust.

"Young man, you have chosen a selfish path. The world will be better off without scum like you." Out of his peripheral vision, Shikamaru noted Ino as she bent over and disguised a probable sob as coughs and excused herself from the tent. He forced his smug look not to falter as the guards began to lead him from the tent.

_No matter how you look at it_, "It's a date then? Tomorrow at dawn? Hahahahahahaha!" Shikamaru turned to call back at the stony faced officers, _next to the lives of an entire clan, one is the cheapest price to pay._

He let his false countenance fall as he was roughly shoved into a battered wooden barrack. Boards were missing along the walls, as was the entirety of the floor, a skeleton structure of an old farmhouse. The front was like a fence so many planks were missing, making it an ideal prison for sentries to keep watch on him. Shikamaru slumped into the farthest corner, balled up against the oppressive black of the shadowy cell, sighing as all the emotions he'd shoved into the back of his mind erupted in a sickening wave that made his chest tighten and his throat burn. He didn't care if the guards noticed, let them think he was still shaking with laughter in the corner. They would never guess a murderer might quake for other reasons.

* * *

Contrary to his normal reaction to stress, Shikamaru did not sleep at all the night before his execution. His confused fear had melted into scheming and when all possible sparks of inspiration had been extinguished, a strange state of acceptance had numbed his feverish mind. Somehow, this had to be okay. Everyone died at some point, a cliché alibi, but a very important truth. And shinobi lived to die protecting others or preserving something for those weaker than them. That was what he was doing. He was a shinobi, dying like all humans do, but for others. It was okay.

_But what about my parents? And Choji? I said I'd come back._

They would understand: they would have no choice. It might hurt initially, but they could follow his same train of thought, they too were shinobi. Death was a norm for them. They had full lives to live and his abbreviated one was just a stroke in their big picture. They would understand.

_But what about…_ "Ino," he whispered her name, opening his eyes and staring blankly out the gaps in the back wall of the decrepit house. He noted with little interest that a faint glow was creating silhouettes of the distant log battlements and the mass of drab tents. A few shadowy people drifted through the misty morning, switching guard duty, following set paths to and from set positions, everything routine except for one stray silhouette wandering off the beaten trails.

Shikamaru switched his focus to his hands, fidgeting with the decaying timbers before him with red, chaffed fingers damp with dew. There had to be a rationalization for leaving Ino. It was part of the plan, they'd agreed to maybe losing their lives when they accepted an S ranked mission, she'd consented to letting him have this role in their infiltration. This was part of their plan.

'_Just in case.' I can't believe that's all I said. And I wanted to…_ he let his head fall to rest on his knees, neck protesting after its extensive immobile state. There was too much he'd left undone with Ino to forget it so easily. They'd only just realized that they weren't comrades anymore, that they were partners, that they had given one another half of themselves.

_I wanted to be hers. Hn. Some other lucky guy will come; she's not the type to mope. Some other lucky guy._

Yes, that was right, it must be. Wasn't that the way things like this went? Widows lost the love of their lives but remarried to be happy, just like their husband would've wanted them to. After all, they hadn't gotten very far. They'd been careful. Slow. They saw what happened when you gave yourself completely and you lost everything to a fatal blow, when he'd died with her heart right in front of them and left her an empty, desolate-

_No, she still has things to live for. Ino will too. We can let go, can't say good-bye, but we can let go._

Shafts of light caressed his raw hands and he shut his eyes, letting his legs collapse and unfold as the first breath of warm sun reached his corner. The door opened, but Shikamaru did not turn to see the officer, he merely rose and placed his hands behind his back in submission. A rope, today, bound his wrists together as he caught a glimpse of the classic sunrise: massive downy clouds parting to unveil the tip of a rosy orb. He smiled as he was led out of the moss-dappled barrack.

_ Just in case it's over. In this case, it's a good thing I got__ in__ our last kiss _.

* * *

Shikamaru was perfectly calm, but passed off his true emotion as petrifaction by keeping his face blank and eyes void of emotion. He was standing untied in the center of a neat circle of soldiers, several feet separating him and General Toraho from the assembled men.

"We are gathered here today," General Toraho's pleasure was flooding his statements as he spoke with a twitching smile, hands clasped behind back, rotating as he spoke to address all the soldiers, "to witness the righting of a monstrous wrong, to see the reason for this war expunged, to watch the execution of this man." He gestured dramatically to Shikamaru, who did not react. The general paused as the murmurs of the crowd faded. "This pitiful human being will soon become pitiable, reduced to the coward he truly is. With this hand and my own blade, I am going to bring this fool to justice." He lifted the side of his robe to reveal the hilt of a venerable blade. Shikamaru realized that he'd seen metal like this before, owned metal like this. Chakra enhanced steel.

_So by 'mortal wound' he doesn't mean he needs to stab my heart or even close, the wound will spread itself. This'll be quite a show._

"Justice for a crime his death will not be ample revenge for, a crime below the lowest moral standards, a wound to our very clan. He," Toraho's pleasure at condemning Shikamaru had warped into a passionate anger, evident in the accusing finger thrust towards the impassive, worn shinobi, "he is the murderer of Toraho Toku and Toraho Shinika, the champions of the Sheru Clan."

Cries erupted among the soldiers and Toraho's voice boomed over them, his face reddening and contorting with rage, "He is a heartless, selfish rat who knows nothing of compassion! He has murdered innocent men, breaking the hearts of our villagers, he knows nothing of loss! This infidel!" Toraho was sweating from his exertion and now tears mingled with the perspiration. "This demon! Knows nothing of love!" A roar echoed the heartfelt declaration and Shikamaru stood in a stupor, feeling his imminent doom.

_Three more breathes? Two more heartbeats?_

Toraho turned to Shikamaru, flinty gray eyes ablaze, the cling of steel sliding from its sheath silencing the crowd.

"This monster," he panted, "dies now!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened as time trickled by and Toraho's charge seemed to become a crawl, the distance of the blade's tip to his chest lessening by centimeters.

Then agony.

Two screams pierced the air, fading to one as Shikamaru's caught in his throat and he tasted warm blood dripping from a corner of his open mouth. It seemed from a great distance that the thud of a helmet came to his ears. There was a sickening squelch as Toraho extracted the blade from deep in Shikamaru's left shoulder and turned to see something. Pain flashed white in Shikamaru's vision and he staggered.

And then something collided with him, keeping him standing, its scream fading to a whimpered, "Shikamaru." He blinked and saw soft yellow brushing against his cheek, red stains tainting long, blonde hair.

"Ino?" Her hands had formed fists, clutching the front of his uniform, body trembling violently as she sobbed and sobbed into his bleeding chest.

"Shikamaru," watery blue eyes found his, "I-I'm sorry. I-I ruined the plan." She buried her face again, shaking uncontrollably. Shikamaru stared and then wrapped his arms around her and held tight, virtually deaf to the footsteps of approaching soldiers.

"Shh, it's okay. Ino, god, it's all right." He let his face rest on the top of her head, resolve to die vanishing even as his heart pumped blood out of the wound he hardly felt. All he could feel was the warmth of the familiar body pressed against him. Not the hands seizing his ripped clothing and trying to pry him loose, or the dizzying pain of his wound, or the coolness of a quavering hand passing over the bloody hole in his body. "Don't let go, Ino," he whispered. "Don't let go," as the sheer number of men were able to rip them away, hands still holding, slipping, two fingers, "INO!" he screamed, writhing against the pulling hands, reaching out to her extended fingertips and tear streaked face as a sea of men began to separate them. "INO!!"

The will to live ignited in him and he broke free of the hands, slamming his fists back and into two faces, sweeping his leg out and against the knees of the man in front of him, then around the back into one man's chest. He breathed hard, raising his hands in a fighting stance. He blocked a punch and let it slide into another man's stomach, leaning to extend his leg into an enemies chin. One man seized him around the middle and nearly forced him to the ground. He hooked his thumbs behind the arms and forced his weight down, breaking the grip before kicking back into the man's chest. He attacked forward, trying to move towards Ino, barely able to keep up against the odds of endless recruits verses himself.

After five solid minutes of taijutsu combinations in a repeat cycle, he caught a glimpse of yellow, Ino. She too was in a close combat stance, turning, blocking and attacking seamlessly, but fatigue beginning to show in her movements.

_Gotta end this._

He kneed the man before him in the gut and quickly formed familiar hand signs.

"KAGEMANE NO JUTSU!" The scene froze, all the men immediately around them assumed Shikamaru's stance. Ino looked up at him in surprise.

"How long," she breathed. Shikamaru grimaced and shook his head. He'd lost a lot of blood and hadn't eaten or slept for twenty-four hours. His chakra would run out in two minutes at most. Ino started as the next wave of soldiers came rushing them. Or more accurately, two soldiers, one from either side. Toraho, eyes blazing, sword drawn and Lord Riku, brown eyes focused, sword confidently held aloft. Toraho reached Ino as Shikamaru leapt sideways to evade the arc of Riku's blade.

"YOU WITCH! DISGUISING YOURSELF AS AN OFFICER! AND MY SWORD! HE SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH THAT WOUND!"

"I switched the swords, you Baka! I switched them last night!" Shikamaru briefly recalled a wandering silhouette in the dusk. "Look familiar?" Ino brought a kunai from the pocket of her uniform and it popped, transforming into Toraho's true blade as the one that sliced inches from Ino's arm became a standard issue weapon.

"GAAA!!!"

Ino lunged forward and threw the sword to Shikamaru as Toraho's blade met the grass. He brought the mighty weapon up to block a swing from Riku as he released his hold on his jutsu, staggering to avoid the next blow. The soldiers surrounding Riku and Shikamaru hurried out of the way of the swords, but Ino was weaponless.

"Shintenshin no jutsu!"

_WHAT!_

Shikamaru turned in horror. Ino's hands were raised, fingers laced with a space defined by the thumbs and joined fingers. She was slumping forward slowly. Toraho was too, Shikamaru dared to hope beyond hope, but then the general steadied himself from a near fall. He had not been caught. Ino's jutsu had failed. She'd missed, as the mind transfer so often did.

But then Shikamaru blinked. In the space it took for Toraho to raise his sword for the killing blow, Shikamaru realized Toraho had not been her target. Riku was on his knees, head sagging forward.

"Kagemane no jutsu!" The last of his chakra stretched and cut Toraho's and the soldiers around Ino's actions short. He breathed hard, energy vanishing in an instant, world fading as he saw Ino stand up in Riku's body. Shikamaru slipped easily into unconsciousness.

"Soldiers!" Ino exclaimed through Riku. A mass of faces turned her way. "I'm sorry to have allowed this execution to fall into disorder. This man was clearly more dangerous than we thought and he shall be executed privately in controlled conditions." Ino glanced around, seeing obedience on the men's faces but a look of vexed contemplation on Toraho's. She had to hurry. "Men! The war is over! Please return to your tents and pack your things! We're heading out!" Silence ensued. Ino looked around nervously, waiting, for what, she didn't know.

Then a cheer exploded and the men threw their helmets into the air as they ran to their tents, military formalities forgotten, joy seizing the soldiers who could become citizens again. Ino looked over towards her body to find Toraho staring at her, kneeling beside the abandoned vessel.

"Witch…" he rose slowly, "WITCH!" he charged her. Ino raised Riku's sword and it met Toraho's. "I know the Shintenshin!" Their weapons trembled, braced against one another, wielded with equal force. She noticed his eyes flick once. Twice, then he swung back and she realized his move.

"NO!" She fell sideways, raising her sword too late to intercept the blow fully and so raising her arm behind it to keep it from pushing into her body. She crouched over Shikamaru's body, pushing with all her might against Toraho, biting her cheek as blood from the blade length cut in her forearm oozed onto the dirt beneath her. "You will not," she forced him back a few feet, "kill," she rose to a doubled over position, "this man!" she pushed hard and Toraho stumbled back. "You speak of loss and love in concern to yourself, but did you ever think of others?"

Toraho had a manic gleam in his eyes now and sloppily heaved a blow towards Shikamaru. Ino caught the blow and raised her sword, twisting Toraho's weapon free of his grasp.

"I love him." Ino dropped into a crouch. "I love him!" She launched herself forward, knocking Toraho backwards. She cast the sword aside and grabbed his throat with one hand. Toraho's fingernails dug into her wrist as he grappled with the hand that dragged him to Ino's empty body. Ino reached into her body's pocket and pulled out a capsule. "It must be fair in love," she whispered as she straightened out the hand around Toraho's throat and struck his neck. His eyelids fluttered and he blacked out. She slipped a capsule into his mouth and manipulated his jaw until he swallowed. She touched his forehead.

"The war is ending and you're going home. The criminal who killed your sons died and all ended right. Your babies are avenged. You can live happily now." Toraho's eyes opened and he sat up.

"Riku-samma?" Ino smiled.

"Go home now, Toraho. The war's over." Toraho blinked, then smiled, genuinely.

"Ah. So it is. And all was fair, all was fair, my sons," he spoke the last words to two distant people only he could see. Ino smiled at Toraho's back as he joined the hectic throng of soldiers gathering their belongings, shaking her head and whispering,

"Baka." She released her mind jutsu and returned to her bruised body. Riku was sitting up startled, but fell back when a blow to the back of the neck left him out cold. Ino slid another capsule into his mouth and went through the same procedure: swallow, hand on forehead.

"You successfully concluded the war by killing the man responsible for the deaths of your two finest warriors. No blood was shed and ties with the Hasu clan are better than ever before. You yourself became an honored war hero, " Riku's eyes opened. "Oh crap, transform!"

"O-officer Inetsu?"

"Sir! You came to! Soldier," Ino called a man over at random and returned her attention to Riku.

"What? … ah yes, execution. Hm… bloody business, but he deserved it I suppose…" Riku trailed off.

"Reporting for duty, Inetsu-san!!" Ino turned slowly.

"Baku?" The soldier smiled before floundering back to attention.

_What are the chances…_

"Could you escort Lord Riku to his tent?" Baku looked as if he might faint from awe as he took Lord Riku's arm and lead him to his quarters, staring openly at the clan leader in admiration.

"Good work, officer," Riku called over his shoulder. Ino bowed, muttering,

"You too, baka." She released her jutsu and collapsed, exhaustion threatening to dominate her cognizance before she noted Shikamaru struggling to get up.

"Shikamaru!" she gasped, crawling towards him. He looked up at her, face blank.

"I-Ino?" They stared at each other, each a mess of blood and dirt, on their knees behind the kitchen tents, oblivious to the pound of soldier's boots and merry shouts. "Ino. I-I-I-…" Shikamaru stared then rose to his feet. "Ino, I know this will come as a shock, I didn't want to- I was going to-" she rose too, looking at him questioningly, "before we left I thought I could but, eh, I'm doing this all wrong." He abruptly dropped to one knee and took her hands in his, blood sliding down her arm to drip between his blistered fingers.

"Ino, will you marry me?" Ino's eyes expanded beyond possibility and she stood in a rare state of speechlessness. She dropped to both knees and they stared at each other.

Then she brought a hand to his face and tugged him into a deep, passionate kiss. Her other hand slid up to his face too, pulling him in, lips roughly caressing his own as he snaked an arm around her waist and slipped the other up to the nape of her neck, fingers supporting her head as he leaned her back, holding her as tight as his weary muscles would allow. They clung to one another fiercely, pressing harder, holding more tightly, pushing against each other with every ounce of strength their taxed bodies still retained, trying to tell the other how much they needed them, wanted them, loved them.

Shikamaru broke the kiss, gasping desperately for air as they fell over and he dragged himself off Ino. They lay on their sides, watching the other fill their burning lungs.

"Yes," Ino exhaled.

"What?"

"Yes, I'll marry you," she panted. Shikamaru grinned pulling her close again.

"Officer Inetsu? Oh!" Ino and Shikamaru looked up to see Baku, standing awkwardly above them. "Heh! My mistake! Uh… Hello! I see your wife's here friend! Sorry to interrupt!" The young soldier dashed away and Shikamaru looked at Ino, still breathing hard. She fished around in her pocket and retrieved a kunai. She slipped the end over her ring finger and winked, wriggling her fingers at him. Nara Shikamaru took Yamanaka Ino's hand in his and they burst into laughter.

All is fair in love and war.

* * *

End Mission 9,325,120 under Godaime Hokage

Mission Rank: S

Number: 1st filed under joint effort of Nara Shikamaru and Nara Ino

Mission success: positive

Location: Iwagakure

Duration: 72 hours

Mission summaries:-Nara Ino: "intense"

-Nara Shikamaru: "necessarily troublesome"

* * *

Yay! Last chapter! Hope you enjoyed it:D 


End file.
